The Bengal Renaissance - pg. 51

It is true Rammohun welcomed the Cornwallis

settlement of 1793 but not in unqualified terms.

So far as the position of the ryots is concerned,

this settlement did not bring much change from

that under the previous Muslim regie. The position

of the cultivators under the ryotwari system was

equally bad. To quote Rammohun, "Under both

systems the condition of the cultivators is very

miserable; in the one they are placed at the mercy

of the zamindar's avarice and ambition, in the

other they are subjected to extortions and intrigues

of the surveyors and other government revenue

officers; I deeply compassionate both, with this

difference, in regard to the agricultural peasantry

of Bengal, that there the landlords have met with

indulgence from government in the assessment of

their revenues, while no part of this indulgence is

extended towards the poor cultivators. In an abundant

season, when the price of corn is low, the sale of their

whole crops is required to meet the demands of the

landholder, leaving little or nothing for seed or

subsistence to the laabourer or his family."